## Facts

- Dell imported laptop computers and secondary (spare) laptop batteries through a foreign-trade subzone; the spare batteries entered with non-privileged foreign status, to be classified at formal entry.
- Dell’s standard laptop offering included a primary battery, power cord and adapter, and manuals.
- Dell marketed and sold secondary batteries separately as optional accessories.
- A secondary battery functioned as a supplemental power source; it could not be used simultaneously with the primary battery and replaced the primary battery only after the primary was depleted.
- When a customer ordered a laptop and a secondary battery together, Dell shipped them in a larger box containing the laptop package and any optional items, including the spare battery.
- Customs classified the secondary batteries under HTSUS 8507.80.80 as “other storage batteries,” subject to duty; Dell protested, seeking duty-free classification with the laptop under HTSUS 8471.30.00 as a retail set under GRI 3(b).
- The Court of International Trade upheld Customs’ separate classification; Dell appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether separately marketed spare laptop batteries shipped in the same package as a laptop at the customer’s request are “goods put up in sets for retail sale” under GRI 3(b) and therefore classifiable with the laptop.

## Decision

- The Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of International Trade.
- The court held the spare batteries were not “goods put up in sets for retail sale” with the laptops under GRI 3(b).
- The spare batteries were properly classified separately as storage batteries under HTSUS 8507.80.80 and were subject to duty.

## Legal Principles

- Under GRI 3(b), “goods put up in sets for retail sale” are classified as if they consisted of the component giving the set its essential character, but only if the merchandise qualifies as a retail set.
- The Explanatory Notes’ three conditions for a retail set are: (1) at least two different articles classifiable in different headings; (2) put up together to meet a particular need or carry out a specific activity; and (3) packaged for sale directly to users without repacking.
- Separate marketing and separate optional ordering are strong indicators that goods shipped together are a primary product plus add-on accessories, not a preconfigured retail set under GRI 3(b).
- A supplemental component that merely extends use of the principal article, rather than forming part of the standard product configuration, may be classified independently even if shipped in the same box.

## Conclusion

The Federal Circuit held that Dell’s spare laptop batteries, though sometimes shipped in the same package as laptops, were optional accessories sold separately and did not qualify as a GRI 3(b) retail set; Customs therefore correctly classified the batteries independently under their own HTSUS heading and assessed duty.


Dell Prods. L.P. v. United States, 642 F.3d 1055 (Fed. Cir. 2011)